I'm sure that by now many of you know that Christopher Lee has passed away. I'll probably be far from the only person to write a blog post in tribute to him, but I'm still going to share a few thoughts. This morning I was surprised to read on Twitter that he had died. Not that I could be all that surprised that a 93-year-old died, but Christopher Lee has been a fixture for my entire life and for people a lot older than me! He's one of those people it seems has always been around, confidently striding out onto the screen with an air of sophistication in one scary role or another.
He was a real inspiration who showed that a person could still be cool in their 90s. A lot of people just hang up the towel and declare themselves "old" decades and decades before they're in their 90s. But there he was, recently acting and singing in a metal band! He was cooler in his 90s than a lot of people are at any age.
What made Christopher Lee the natural vampire was the regal way in which he carried himself and that voice! Not that you heard much of it in those Hammer Dracula films, but the little bit you did hear was so deep and powerful. He seems like he should have been doing Shakespeare, almost like he was slumming it in those Dracula movies. Sometimes I think he knew that, because when I look at his eyes before he's about to bite someone he looks sort of bored and disgusted by his prey. It's like he's thinking "Centuries of these dumb girls. Oh well, a neck's a neck."
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It occurred to me that I'd watched Christopher Lee die as Dracula so many times in these movies and then somehow be resurrected in the sequels, that it's weird for me to think of him actually being gone. But like Dracula, he does have a sort of immortality. Christopher Lee will live on forever through the many movies he made. That's the almost magical thing about actors, that so long as they exist on film somewhere, they still live on for their audience. Most of us had never met Christopher Lee, so all we'd ever seen of him was in his movies. So when you watch him, as I plan to do tonight, his greatness will still be there for you as a movie viewer as much as it ever was.
Wasn't he something! I know he played many roles over a long career, but he was one of the few actors who really did justice to the role of Dracula.
ReplyDeleteAli ~ He sure was! I agree, Christopher Lee is one of the few actors I think of when I think of Dracula. He and Bela Lugosi of course. There are a few others who come to mind but they don't seem worth mentioning as much. I watched the full "Horror of Dracula" last night after watching that clip I posted above, and got another reminder of how cool Christopher Lee was!
DeleteRIP Mr. Lee...
ReplyDeleteGreat tribute Justine! I was so sad to hear of his passing. He was an icon!
ReplyDeleteMidnyte Reader ~ Thank you! Yeah, I was sad too. I mean, I knew he wouldn't be around forever and he had lived a good long life, but it was still sad news. Yes "icon" is a good word! Just monumental. I was surprised and pleased to see all the tributes to him on news shows yesterday. It goes to show what a huge fan base he has!
DeleteI remember checking the TV Log as a kid diligently scanning it for horror movies - two of my favorites were Dracula 1931 and Horror of Dracula. It's always warming when these veterans of Horror are still with us like Barbara Steele (77). But at least we can say that Christopher Lee lived a full and productive life. My favorite performance of his is the character "Resurrction Joe" in "Corridors of Blood" with Boris Karloff.
ReplyDeleteHey, great bird pic you sent in Twitter! Birds are fun. I'm always amazed at their ability to fly and hop through brush. I've been having battery/electric problems for the last week and I haven't been able to get online. I'll comment more on your tweets tomorrow :)
Matt ~ Those are two very classic Dracula movies! They both gave me an idea of who Dracula is, aside from what I imagined while reading the book. Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi seem like two very different guys, but I see them equally as Dracula.
DeleteYes! He did live a very full and productive life! I think he fit more into his lifetime than most people do. I don't even know about "Corridors of Blood" but it sounds like a movie I should know about. I'm trying to get a hold of some Christopher Lee movies I haven't seen. I plan to watch "The Wicker Man" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959) soon. Have you seen either of those?
Thanks! Yeah, birds are fun. Some more than others. :) Robins never fail to entertain me with the way they hop around and splash in the water. They must be the least self-conscious of birds!
OK, I'll chat with you again sometime soon!
I have seen the Hound of the Baskervilles, and, in some ways, it's better than the Rathbone and Bruce version. Color helps, of course, and the story is a little different. It's typical Hammer/Cushing quality faire with Mr. Lee playing the role of the heir. If you can see it, I'd recommend it, I know you'd like it. Peter Cushing is Sherlock.
DeleteMatt ~ I watched "The Hound of the Baskervilles" a few days ago and yes, it is very much in the style of Hammer! I think Hammer could make nearly any story into a movie and you could be guaranteed a ton of fog, a horse and carriage, and some of that bright orange/red blood! Christopher Lee was perfect in the role of Henry Baskerville. He could play that upper crust type of character really well! Do you have that movie on DVD? The extras on the one I watched were pretty good! There were a few recordings of Christopher Lee reading parts of Sherlock Holmes stories and a really nice Christopher Lee tribute to Peter Cushing.
DeleteDracula: Prince of Darkness is really the Hammer embodiment of your description, have you seen that one? I know you'd like it. No, I don't have the hound on DVD, I rented it from iTunes.
DeleteMatt ~ This is crazy, but I don't think I've seen "Dracula: Prince of Darkness"! I couldn't believe it, so I watched the trailer to check. Nope, not ringing a bell. I thought I'd seen all of these! I remembered one with a monk, but I think that was a different Hammer Dracula movie. This monk isn't looking familiar. I can see that this movie is really heavy on the Hammer blood! I tried to find some of the Sherlock Holmes readings I listened to on the DVD so you could hear them too. I didn't find those, but I found something that's maybe even better - an entire story!
DeleteChristopher Lee reading "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"
Dracula: POD is heavy on the house-movie side and a good mystery. Dracula has Risen from the Grave is the other Priest movie, I think. Oh, this reading looks great! I don't think I've ever heard The Sussex Vampire. I'll check it out!
DeleteMatt ~ Oh! OK. That solves it. I own "Dracula has Risen from the Grave", so that must be what I was thinking of. I remember a GIANT cross in that one and that just wasn't matching up with the "Dracula: Prince of Darkness" trailer I watched. Thanks for solving that mystery for me, because I couldn't remember which movie I was thinking of. You watch enough of these Hammer Dracula movies and they start to blend together. I haven't listened to much of that Christopher Lee recording yet, but it sounded promising! He's the perfect guy to do a reading of a Sherlock story involving a vampire.
DeleteYes, I was thinking he'd be perfect for reading too. Yeah, the Hammer films all have about the same plot. In Scars of Dracula, Lee actually gets to speak and it's a good castle-movie. So that's one of my favorites.
DeleteI listened to The Sussex Vampire, Lee did a great job of reading with different voices, accents, and all. He even had Sherlock Holmes rolling r's. It was an interesting little puzzle. Holmes doesn't like supernatural riddles and he dispensed with this one in his usual analytical manner. Lee has a strong and distinguished English accent which is an interesting contrast to the Hungarian-accented Dracula of common lore. But I like all vampires so that's fine with me.
DeleteMatt ~ Haha! Yeah, you know what to expect with a Hammer movie. I ordered a Hammer DVD set from our library system yesterday because I wanted to see one movie on it. It's called "Night Creatures" and is totally new to me. Have you seen that one? Hmm... I don't know about "Scars of Dracula" but I should look for that too. I heard that Christopher Lee was frustrated that he didn't have much of a speaking role in the Dracula films, so at least he got a bit of a chance to talk in that one.
DeleteI haven't had a chance to listen to The Sussex Vampire aside from the first few minutes. I did get a chance to hear a few different voices out of him and it was fun to hear him do those. It was like Christopher Lee's story hour. :) It's true, it does seem unusual to hear a Dracula with an English accent, but for some reason I never questioned it! He seemed so confident and perfect in that role that I guess I was easily able to accept a different kind of voice.
Oh yes, I've heard of "Night Creatures" but I haven't seen it. There is still a lot of Hammer Horror I haven't seen. "Evil of Frankenstein" is one I'd like to see. How many movies does this set have in it?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's one of the tragedies of the Hammer Dracula series that Dracula is just some kind of external force with no real diabolical drama to unfurl. But in "Scars of Dracula" Mr. Lee plays it spaced and ghoulish, which works well to monsterize the performance.
They always spend about 20 minutes of the movie developing the love affair between the victim and her boyfriend - for shock value perhaps. But at least they all contain the red blood that we all love so much (hehehe!)
An English vampire presents a lot of interesting possibilities with opportunities to connect the undead to witch-cults and Satanism and just drop the Transylvania.
Matt ~ The set is "The Hammer Horror Series" and there are eight movies on it. It actually includes "Evil of Frankenstein". I'm not sure if I'll watch any movies on it aside from "Night Creatures". Maybe I'll watch "Brides of Dracula".
DeleteSo true! Dracula is kind of one-dimensional in Hammer films. We don't really get to know him. There usually isn't even much of a back story for his character. Yeah, I hadn't thought about it, but now that you bring it up, there's always about 20 minutes of getting to know the couple in the story. Yeah, maybe it's so we really care about them when Dracula decides to attack? Hard to say... I wonder what "Hammer blood" actually was. Ketchup?
It's true, they could have gone in some different directions with a vampire being English. There weren't a lot of layers or differences in these movies, but I still enjoy watching them! Come to think of it, I have a DVD set of the Hammer TV show. That show had all sorts of paranormal stuff going on, not just the classic monsters. The witch-cult idea you mentioned just reminded me of one of the episodes. If you're interested, this is the set:
Hammer House of Horror DVD set
Justine - yes, I think that's the one I've been eyeing on Amazon. You'll have to do a post on "Night Creatures" because you've got me curious now! Please!!!
DeleteMatt ~ Somehow your comment got lost in my email for a few days so I just saw it now! Actually, I was considering watching "Night Creatures" tonight. I think it would be fun to do a review on it! From the little I know about it, "Night Creatures" sounds like a different kind of Hammer movie. I think this one might have ghosts. I'll let you know once that review is posted.
DeleteJustine - ok, that sounds great! Yeah, all this movie discussing is getting me in the mood for buying movies!
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